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TACTICAL MASTERCLASS WINS IT FOR SUPERSTARS. |
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Superstars arrived at one of the two nicest grounds with two inevitable
situations - a beautiful sunny day and a lack of players. We had ten players, 2 of which had to leave early, one who
was bravely limping through injury and hardly able to walk plus one who arrived late. Because of the 2 early leavers
against all cricketing logic Gaught elected to bowl on a hot, sunny day on a flat wicket [it physically hurt to say it]. |
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With Alok running late Konrad and the guesting Milund opened the bowling.
Both (especially KCZ) struggled to begin with but got into a groove. Alok arrived and took a wicket in his spell. At this point
Superstars were restricting the run rate (always a challenge with LSE's opener Adam) with NJ joining the attack (or should
that be defence). Sandeep G became the second half of an excellent spin twin attack and took a wicket with some extravegent
turn. With Superstars doing an excellent job of restricting LSE, although not taking wickets, LSE had a slog at the end to
reach 170-7 in their 35 overs (2 wickets for Alok, 2 for Milund, 1 for Sandeep G, 2 run outs and economical spells by NJ and
Konrad). It was an odd innings where the first and last 6 overs leaked runs but the 23 inbetween were very tight. It felt
a gettable target if Superstars could surmount their issues around a lack of players. |
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Tea was eaten and it was good. |
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With the time reaching 4.40 and NJ and Milund having to leave at 5.15
they were asked to pinch hit at the top of the innings. They performed brilliantly, putting on around 60 in 7 overs before Jonathan Law
dragged them to some Ad Hoc game. We were ahead of the rate. Unfortunately Matt C and Vijay were dimissed early which bought
together the on-form Rick Smith and the hardly played recently Gaught. Rick played beautifully, driving the ball well and
cleverly aiming aeriel shots at poor fielders, Gaught meanwhile was solid and mainly watching at the non-striker's end.
Rick retired with around 30 runs still
required. It was time for Gaught to take the mantle with the words of expert finisher Michael Bevan in his mind ("if you're
ahead of the rate, aim to finish it with three overs to spare") and although Sandeep G and Alok were dismissed quickly Gaught kept
chipping away at the total. He found a willing ally in Konrad and a mixture of nudges, nurdles and byes got Superstars
to the winning line without needing the clearly struggling Meyler (and the choas of a runner). Superstars won by 6 wickets (or
any number between 2 and 6 wickets depending on your view) with 3 overs to spare. |
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A good team performance in trying circumstances. The bowling (and fielding)
kept us in the game, the batting won it. Instead of walking 10 minutes to the pub many of us opted for the 35 minute
car journey with Steve Meyler because we love him so much. |
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Team: Gaught (capt), NJ, Milund, Conway, Anand, Smith (wkt), S.Meyler, Konrad, Singh, Sandeep G. |
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Author: Late cobbled together effort by Paul Gaught. |
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